Wall-walking dancer Rachael Lincoln: ‘It’s a duet’

Rachael Lincoln, UW dance lecturer and member of the BANDALOOP dance company, performs “Man Walking Down the Side of a Building,” by choreographer Trisha Brown on the west side of Meany Hall for the Performing Arts on Friday, Feb. 5. She was assisted from above by a colleague with BANDALOOP.Joe Santiago / UW Photo

At 10:30 a.m. Friday, Rachael Lincoln leaned slowly out into space, hands at her sides — and then walked down the side of Meany Hall for the Performing Arts.

Then, as coolly as if she were strolling to the corner for coffee, she did it again an hour later, and then a third time, all flawlessly. Earthbound again, she took a rather formal and well-deserved bow.

Rachael Lincoln was assisted in performing “Man Walking Down the Side of a Building” by Derrick Lindsay, who worked the ropes.Joe Santiago / UW Photo

Each perpendicular walk was met with applause, cheers, high-fives and a bit of relief from the gathered crowd — who then went ahead and started breathing again.

Lincoln, a lecturer in the UW Dance Program, is no stranger to this sort of aerial performance. She’s also a member of BANDALOOP, an Oakland-based “vertical dance” company. Working with secured ropes from above — about 60 feet up — and helping rappel Lincoln down the side was BANDALOOP colleague Derrick Lindsay.

Watching from below was enough to scare anyone, but Lincoln remained cool; she was secure and the height didn’t bother her, she said.

“I was nervous but not in the way you’d think I would be nervous,” she said. ‘I was more nervous about — how revealing this was in its simplicity, and that every little thing shows.”

The “last third” was the hardest part of the piece, she said, together with that first step outward. “Because there’s more rope and so it’s loftier — it’s kind of pulling you away from the wall a little bit, so it gets heavier on your body.”

Rachael Lincoln takes a well-deserved bow after her third flawless performance of “Man Walking Down the Side of a Building” by famed choreographer Trisha Brown.Joe Santiago / UW Photo

Lincoln was quick to note that the wall-walk was a team effort.

“It’s a duet with the rigger who’s belaying me. I’m just responding to his timing. And as a BANDALOOP dancer I’m used to belaying myself, so the hardest part is feeling out of control.”

The campus celebration of Brown’s work will continue with performances tonight and Saturday by the Trisha Brown Dance Company, a monthlong photo exhibit and a Feb. 19 film about the company. Learn more about these related events through the UW World Series.

Talking with friends and visitors between performances, Lincoln was asked about the black knee-high boots, part of an outfit that looked a little like a flight suit. Were they for aerial work?

“Oh no, they’re just my badass boots,” she said casually.

Which seemed the right word for the whole event.

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To learn more about the UW World Series and its celebration of Trisha Brown’s work, contact Teri Mumme, UW World Series director of communications and marketing, at 206-685-0995 or tmumme@uw.edu.